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A JIRA workflow is the set of statuses and transitions that an issue goes through during its lifecycle.

Workflows typically represent business processes.

JIRA ships with a built-in workflow called jira, which is the default system workflow and cannot be edited. However, you can make copies of this workflow to get started creating your own workflows quickly. You can also create your own workflows from scratch, or import them from Atlassian Marketplace, if you prefer. Each workflow you create can be associated with particular projects and, optionally, specific issue type(s) by using a workflow scheme.

What is a transition?

A transition is a link between two statuses that enables an issue to move from one status to another. In order for an issue to move between two statuses, a transition must exist.

A transition is a one-way link, so if an issue needs to move back and forth between two statuses, two transitions need to be created. The available workflow transitions for an issue are listed on the View issue screen, shown here.

Editing a workflow

Editing a workflow means that you are modifying the statuses and transitions that make up a workflow. There are slight differences between editing an inactive and an active workflow, described below. We place restrictions on the modifications you can make to an active workflow, due to the impact the changes will have on projects and/or issue types that use this workflow.

Active versus inactive workflows

An inactive workflow is a workflow that is not currently being used by any projects. Because there are no issues currently transitioning through an inactive workflow, you can simply edit the workflow's steps and transitions. For details on this, see Working in text mode.

An active workflow is a workflow that is currently being used by one or more projects.

When you edit an active workflow, JIRA first creates a draft of it, as shown here.

You can then modify the draft as you see fit. Once you have finished modifying your draft workflow, you can publish your draft and, optionally, save your original workflow as an inactive backup.

Limitations when editing an active workflow

Please note that the following limitations apply when editing an active workflow (i.e. a draft workflow):

It is not possible to edit the workflow name (only the description) if a workflow is active.

Workflow designer, also referred to as Diagram edit mode, allows you to visualize the entire layout of your workflow as well as create and edit a workflow's steps and transitions. For versions of this feature prior to JIRA 6.1, see Classic mode workflow designer.

The JIRA workflow designer looks like this:

Statuses in the workflow designer

There are a number of different actions you can perform with statuses in the workflow designer. By selecting a status, extra information and actions also become available in the Properties panel on the right-hand side of the screen, where you can:

Create new status – displays a dialog where you can create a new status in your JIRA instance.

Edit a status – lets you change the name and description of the status.

Remove a status – removes the status from the workflow, but not the JIRA instance.

Move the status on the screen – click and drag the status to reposition it in the diagram. Geometric snap lines appear to help you align the status with other statuses in the workflow.

Edit properties – properties are advanced configurations on a workflow. Please see Workflow properties for details.

Add a global transition – global transitions are transitions that allow every other status in the workflow to transition to the selected status.

Diagram showing a selected status, and the operations that can be performed on statuses

Note: Statuses are global objects in JIRA. Changing the name of a status on one workflow also changes the name of the status on all workflows that use that status.

Transitions in the workflow designer

There are a number of different actions you can perform with transitions in the workflow designer. When you select a transition, additonal information and actions become available in the Properties panel on the right-hand side of the screen, where you can:

Add a transition – dragging a port of any status to a port of another status (see the illustration on the right) creates a new transition between the two statuses.

Reposition a transition – selecting a transition highlights the two endpoints of the transition with black dots. Clicking and dragging either of those dots gives you the ability to reposition a transition around its given status.

Delete a transition – click the Delete transition button or just use the delete key on your keyboard.

Edit a transition – lets you change the name and description. You can also change the screen that the transition uses, see Working in text mode for details.

Diagram showing a selected transition and the operations that can be performed on transitions

Workflow designer tips

Hover over a transition or a status to see the relevant transition labels.

When dragging a status on the page, the red lines that display are geometric snap lines that can be used snap to other statuses.

Zoom the diagram with your mouse wheel. Pan the diagram by clicking and holding the mouse while on white space, then moving your mouse across the diagram.

On the View Issue page, all statuses except the current one are displayed with the white background and blue text. The current status displays a blue background with white text to give it more prominence.

Enter a name and description for your workflow. Click the Add button. The workflow opens in edit mode and contains a step called Open. If you are viewing your workflow in Diagram mode, you see an incoming transition called Create.

Continue with your workflow customizations, by adding and editing steps and transitions.

Renaming workflow transition buttons

If you copied the system workflow and you wish to rename the workflow transition buttons on the View issue page, you must delete the following properties from all transitions in the copied workflow:

jira.i18n.title

jira.i18n.description

Otherwise, the default names (i.e. values of these properties) will persist. Read more about transition properties.

Editing a project's workflow for the first time

Whenever a new JIRA project is created, your project automatically uses the default workflow scheme, which associates all available issue types in the project with the JIRA system workflow. Since neither the JIRA system workflow nor the default workflow scheme are editable, JIRA creates an editable copy of the system workflow and workflow scheme for your project.

In the displayed workflow, click the Edit icon at the top-right of the box (shown here):A message is displayed letting you know that you are editing your workflow for the first time. Click Continue to proceed.

JIRA automatically does the following:

Creates a copy of the system workflow named Your Project Name Workflow.

Creates a new workflow scheme for Your Project Name Workflow named Your Project Name Workflow Scheme.

Associates any existing issues in your project with the new Your Project Name Workflow.

You can now edit your draft workflow. When you are finished, you are presented with a dialog where you can publish your draft and, optionally, save your original workflow as an inactive backup.

Usage notes:

If you have only a small number of existing issues in your JIRA project, this process is relatively quick.

If you have many (e.g. thousands of) existing issues in your JIRA project, this process may take some time.

Once this process begins, it cannot be paused or cancelled. Please avoid editing or transitioning any issues within your project while this process is taking place.

Working in text mode

Text mode is an advanced way of working with workflows, and it shows the difference between steps and statuses. In text mode, you work directly with steps. For details, see Working in text mode.

Advanced workflow transitions

For more information on workflow transitions, including built-in JIRA conditions, combining conditions into groups, applying validators and post functions, see Advanced workflow configuration.